New statewide testing of schoolchildren show modest gains in math scores.

THE STAKES:

Much work remains to elevate the academic performance of New York's students.

State education officials are making a big deal out of a little improvement in elementary and middle school test scores.

In year-over-year comparisons statewide, children in grades 3 and 8 did modestly better on statewide math exams tied to Common Core standards this year. Unfortunately, the tests showed almost no progress in the English testing.

Still, Education Commissioner John King praised the results, saying they show the state is making progress in the formidable challenge to elevate the educational standards for New York's students. Appropriately, he acknowledged that much more work needs to be done.

Common Core, however, continues to be a lightning rod for parents, teachers and politicians in New York and in many of the other 44 states that had adopted the new standards. It's become inextricably tangled in politics. Although Common Core was developed by a coalition of the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, it has come to be portrayed as a creation of the Obama administration, standards the government is ramming down the throats of states and school districts.

Now, it seems almost everyone, including the state's largest teacher's union and even Gov. Andrew Cuomo, wants to put some brakes on the implementation of the Common Core standards. There's even a "Stop Common Core" statewide ballot line in November.

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Mr. King is right to use the recent, albeit quite modest, gains to promote what is still the worthy agenda of elevating school and student performance. We have said before that Common Core standards are a reasonable and measured approach to addressing a critical national problem — U.S. school children are lagging behind many of their counterparts in Europe and Asia.

That doesn't mean they should stop looking for ways to revise some of the aspects of Common Core, whose main goals include honing critical thinking skills. Analytical skills are certainly essential to prepare youngsters for college-level work or jobs in the modern economy. Yet just this week, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health found the old-fashioned way of memorizing multiplication tables serves students well when they later study advanced math.

The most troubling aspect of the state's recent test score data is that the progress is coming mainly in suburban districts that are better off financially. Alarmingly, no students in the Albany city schools are meeting the proficiency standard in eighth grade math scores. Schenectady, another financially pressed urban district, did only a little better.

It's a reminder that, Common Core aside, the governor and Legislature must provide the funding and resources poor districts need to close the education gap.